Two Plus Two Makes Four
by Liannis
Summary: On a date to see Clerks II, Tim can't shake the feeling his gut is telling him something. But what?


**Author's Notes: **Hearing 'ABC' gave me a vision of how McGee would react to the musical number in Clerks 2. Text in italics is song lyrics from "ABC" by the Jackson 5.

000000

_Teacher's gonna show you, how to get an A..._

Tim looked at the screen confused. How had this movie gone from a profanity-laced tale of the last day of a slacker to a full-on musical number?

"Don't these guys do any real work?" He muttered under his breath to Tricia.

"Shhh...this is one of the best parts of the whole movie."

"It's totally unrealistic...this place wouldn't even stay in business for more than a month."

"It's not supposed to be realistic...it just happened. That's what makes it so fun. Now hush!" As Tricia went back to bobbing her head in time with the bubblegum hit, Tim slumped in his chair. Now everyone was dancing in a obviously choreographed number. Real people never -just- danced in a group like that.

When the movie ended, Tim could see that she was still upset with him. "What's wrong?"

Tricia's face scrunched up into a pout, and suddenly he saw her as a young girl. "What do you think is wrong? You were totally being a jerk in there.."

Now, Tim was confused even more. "Because I thought that part was unrealistic?

She rolled her eyes. "All musical numbers are unrealistic. Why do you have to to be an agent when you aren't at work? "

It felt as though he'd been punched in the gut, and it took a moment for him to regain his composure. "Because I -am- an NCIS agent 24/7. I can't just turn it off like I'm a robot and there's a switch somewhere. I thought you understood that, Tricia. We met on a case, remember?"

"Yes, but.." The silence told him all he needed to know. Tricia was just like Michelle, Anita, and the other girls. The ones who thought dating an agent would be cool until they were faced with the inevitable missed dates, last-minute cancellations. They were the same girls who drooled over men in uniform with little to no regard for the great sense of responsibility that went along with the fancy clothes. He broke from his musing just in time to hear her say "I think we should break up."

She watched him, waiting for a response. He simply nodded. "I agree."

Whirling on her heel, she sped off into the darkness, leaving Tim alone in front of the box office with his thoughts.

"It just happened..." Tricia's naïve words echoed in his ears as he headed toward his car. Things didn't just happen. If there's one thing he has learned from his time at NCIS, that coincidences don't exist. There's always a link connecting seemingly unrelated events, people, things. Gibbs and his gut, Abby and her forensics, Ducky and his medical knowledge and profiling talents, they all found connections that made the seemingly chaotic world make sense. You just had to look hard enough to find them.

If there were always connections, if things always happened for a reason, what was the point of this? Tricia was just another in a series of relationships that had quickly fizzled and gone nowhere. The answer was here somewhere, and he was going to find it if it took him all night.

Ten minutes later, he was back at his apartment. No messages on the answering machine, and no answers to the question. The song was stuck in his head, which wasn't helping matters either...

_ABC, it's easy, it's like counting up to three..._

He just couldn't shake the feeling that his gut was trying to tell him something, but what was it? The movie tried to be outrageous in its offensiveness, but once you eliminated the profanity, lewdness, and outright crudity, it was a story about friendship and love and how important they were.

But, McGee already knew that. He was well aware of the fact that friends and family made life worthwhile and enjoyable. That wasn't it.

So, what else was there? The musical number, the initial source of his irritation, and the cause of the fight that led to the breakup. Of course, Tricia was right. Musical numbers never made sense. He'd seen them before, but was able to suspend disbelief and enjoy the rest of the movie. Therefore, something had to be different about this one.

Was it Tricia herself? Had he suspected she was like the others? No, that wasn't it. Until tonight, she hadn't seemed bothered by the fact he was an agent. As he'd reminded her, they met on a case.

_Sing a simple melody..._ Suddenly, he had his answer. Reachng for his phone, he dialed a familiar number.

"Hello?" Tim smiled.

"Hey, Abby. It's me, Tim. Can I come see you?"

Suddenly her voice was full of concern. "Tim, what's wrong??"

"Nothing, Abby, in fact, I think things may finally be going right.."

_That's how easy love can be..._


End file.
